Tuesday, June 24, 7:00 p.m.
Members $95, guests $120

It’s hip to be on the square. Union Square, that is, the spot where chef/entrepreneur Todd English has established himself in the W Hotel with the New York incarnation of his fabulously successful Olives. Want to be hipper-than-hip? Dig into what New York magazine’s Adam Platt described as English’s “patented” hamburger—a beauty “smothered in sautéed onions and pressed between two squares of toasted panini.” And if what you seek is “rustic-inspired, innovative, robust, Mediterranean-influenced” fare, as Jason Oliver Nixon put it in Gotham Magazine, you’re in the right place.

Consider ordering the fried oysters with carpaccio and mashed potatoes, a treat Esquire magazine called “the most elegant food you can eat with your fingers”; the spectacular rotisserie meats and fish cooked on an open hearth; the risotto with a ragoût of mushrooms, porcini cream, and white truffles; or the textbook-perfect hand-crafted pasta such as Olives’ signature tortelli of butternut squash, topped with crumbled amaretti, butter, sage, and Parmesan.

English is the visionary, but of course he can’t be in all his many kitchens at all times. At Olives NY, the execution is in the capable hands of executive chef Victor LaPlaca, chef de cuisine Rick Gencarelli, and pastry chef Alfred Stephens. LaPlaca is one of the family. A CIA graduate with Italian roots, he honed his craft under English’s guidance at Olives’ original Boston site, and was chef de cuisine at Olives Las Vegas, in the Bellagio Hotel. He has been at home at Olives in the W since 2000.

Like LaPlaca, Gencarelli has deep roots in the English soil. After a memorable dinner at the original Olives, Gencarelli headed straight for the CIA. Upon graduation, he cooked at Aqua and Rubicon in San Francisco, before coming home to Olives in Boston. Four years later, he was chef de cuisine at English’s Miramar in Westport, Connecticut. Gencarelli joined the opening team at Olives NY and has been there ever since.

Alfred Stevens, pastry chef, also played on the Olives NY opening team. A graduate of the French Culinary Institute, Stephens previously delighted New York’s dessert devotees at Mesa Grill and at the Glazier Group restaurants—Strip House, Tapika, and the Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse restaurants. At Olives NY the food is so rich, it’s hard to find space for dessert, but we recommend you give it a try. It won’t be a square meal without it.